Pacific Science Center puts on a party

By DEBERA CARLTON HARRELL, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Friday, October 25, 2002

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More than 40 years ago, construction was under way on the space-oriented Science Pavilion for the 1962 "Century 21" World's Fair in Seattle. The facility went on to become the non-profit, educational Pacific Science Center. less

More than 40 years ago, construction was under way on the space-oriented Science Pavilion for the 1962 "Century 21" World's Fair in Seattle. The facility went on to become the non-profit, educational Pacific ... more

Photo: / P-I File

Pacific Science Center puts on a party

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Flash back to October 1962.

The Cold War was on; the Space Age had begun. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first person to orbit the Earth -- nearly a year before U.S. astronaut John Glenn -- and Neil Armstrong's moonwalk was still seven years away.

At a time when those in Boeing's back yard were politically motivated and intellectually primed to explore science and technology, the Pacific Science Center opened its doors as a way to increase public understanding and satisfy the curious.

It has been opening doors to exploration and discovery ever since, becoming one of the top science centers in the world.

Today, the public is invited to celebrate the center's 40th birthday with a party featuring a giant dinosaur cake and fun for all ages.

The bash is a daylong tribute to Oct. 22, 1962, when the facility -- constructed as the space-oriented Science Pavilion for the 1962 "Century 21" World's Fair in Seattle -- reopened as a private, non-profit science education facility. It was the first such center in the country.

Van Dorn, the center's earliest education director, said science centers all over the world have sought to emulate the Pacific Science Center and its programs, such as its "Science on Wheels" van outreach effort, collaborations with public schools, teacher education programs and hands-on interactive exhibits.

Van Dorn and others also credited center Executive Director George Moynihan for its success. Since Moynihan arrived in 1980, the center has grown from 2,700 to 35,000 members and its budget has risen from $1.5 million to $14 million.

Center fans become wide-eyed when they recall favorite memories of lunar modules, telescopes, periscopes, lasers, optical illusions, centrifugal-force experiments and IMAX films. Some remember lying on the floor and looking up at the domed screen of the "Spacearium." Others remember the huge range of exhibits over 40 years -- from butterflies, bubbles and dinosaurs to scientific and cultural history (India and "7,000 Years of China") to traveling exhibits like "Genetics!" and the Titanic.

"I remember the Planetarium -- the artificial sky was so cool," said Corky Russell, a Boeing engineer who at 13 was the first kid through the door when the Pacific Science Center opened.

"The World's Fair and the science center were my baby sitters; how could you have better baby sitters?" said Russell, whose mother worked at the fair. "I was this young kid seeking knowledge, and I remember soaking up everything."

Howard Baker, the center's projectionist and audio-visual technician "since day one," and his wife, Polly, call the science center "our second home." Earlier this week, they were introducing their grandkids, age 6 and 10, to the butterfly exhibit and the computer displays.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels recalled how he "used to come here all the time" with his five siblings, tapping into "an incredible world of discovery."

Television educator Bill Nye the Science Guy, greeting a group of students at a press conference with "Happy Orbit of the Sun!" performed several experiments to show why science is fun. After demonstrating how a rubber squash ball can be smashed to bits after a good soaking in liquid nitrogen, Nye put on safety goggles and showed how adding heat and oxygen to lycopodium powder (moss spores) in a bucket can create a "chemical change."

"You never get tired of that," he said after the bucket's contents erupted in flames.

But Nye said that while science is fun and full of "PBJ" -- "passion, beauty and joy" -- it is also critical to public education and debate on issues ranging from weapons of mass destruction to climate changes and environmental pollution.

"All these problems," Nye said, "need to be solved with science. People need to be scientifically literate. The (Washington, D.C.-area) sniper was caught thanks to science and technology. The debate over the bioethics of cloning is best reasoned with scientific understanding.

"There's nothing more important than science education today," Nye said. "The Pacific Science Center is world-class -- it's a jewel."

Dennis Schatz, the center's director of education, said that students in Washington must be particularly science-savvy because of upcoming, mandatory state science tests. The Washington Assessment of Student Learning is developing a mandatory eighth-grade science test.

"My fantasy in life," Schatz said, "is that science becomes as pervasive and important as sports."